Resisting the Scramble: Ethiopia, the Mandinka, the Herero and Nama, the Zulu, and the Asante
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All 12 Flashcards — Resisting the Scramble: Ethiopia, the Mandinka, the Herero and Nama, the Zulu, and the Asante
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Question
What four factors decided whether an African state resisted European colonisation?
Answer
Determination to preserve independence; brutality/inflexibility of the coloniser; strength of political structures; military strength and access to firearms.
Question
Who led Ethiopia to victory over Italy in 1896?
Answer
Emperor Menelik II, at the Battle of Adwa.
Question
What treaty triggered the war between Ethiopia and Italy?
Answer
The Treaty of Wuchale (1889) — disputed wording meant the Italian version claimed control over Ethiopian foreign policy that the Amharic version did not grant.
Question
What was the outcome of the Battle of Adwa (1 March 1896)?
Answer
Menelik II's forces decisively defeated Italy, leading to the Treaty of Addis Ababa and Italian recognition of Ethiopian independence.
Question
Who led Mandinka resistance to French expansion, and for how long?
Answer
Samori Touré, who resisted France for nearly two decades (1880s–1898) before his capture.
Question
Why did Samori Touré's resistance eventually fail?
Answer
France committed growing resources and reinforcements over time, while Samori lacked a sustained outside supply of modern weapons and outside allies.
Question
What happened to the Herero and Nama in German South-West Africa after their 1904 uprising?
Answer
General Lothar von Trotha issued an extermination order; thousands died fleeing into the Omaheke Desert and in concentration camps — widely seen as one of the first genocides of the 20th century.
Question
Who was king of the Zulu during the Anglo-Zulu War, and what happened at Isandlwana?
Answer
Cetshwayo kaMpande; Zulu regiments defeated a British column at Isandlwana in January 1879, a rare African victory over a modern European army.
Question
How did the Anglo-Zulu War end?
Answer
Britain sent reinforcements and won decisively at Ulundi in July 1879, using superior firepower; the Zulu kingdom was later broken into rival chiefdoms.
Question
How many Asante Wars were fought against Britain, and what triggered the last one?
Answer
Three wars (1873, 1896, 1900); the 1900 War of the Golden Stool began when Britain demanded the sacred Golden Stool, the symbol of Asante kingship.
Question
Who led the 1900 Asante rebellion over the Golden Stool?
Answer
Yaa Asantewaa, the Queen Mother of Ejisu.
Question
Compare Ethiopia's outcome to the Herero and Nama's outcome, and explain the key difference.
Answer
Ethiopia won lasting independence because it had a unified state and modern weapons from Italy's rivals; the Herero and Nama were nearly destroyed because they lacked firepower and faced a coloniser willing to commit genocide.
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Topic 21.9 hub
Response to European imperialism (1870–1920)
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